


The Tutor

by SailorMoon489



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (Anime & Manga)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-15
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:21:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 13,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23664568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorMoon489/pseuds/SailorMoon489
Summary: Serena Tsukino miserably fails a test and her parents become concerned and decide to get her a tutor. They hire her older brother's best friend, offering him a price he cannot refuse. The two don't get along but when the tutoring is over they can't seem to stay away from each other.
Relationships: Chiba Mamoru/Tsukino Usagi
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	1. Chapter 1

~*~*~*~*~  
Chapter   
One  
~*~*~*~*~

Serena sat in her seat staring at the graded test paper that she had just received back, her shoulders slumped down as she sulked at her grade. Majority of the other students in the class were celebrating their good scores and high marks. This test would either help you in the class, or drag you down and it drug Serena down so far she knew she had to come up with a plan to keep her parents from finding out.

The bell rang for lunch and Serena quickly rushed out of her seat to find her friends. Mina and Amy quickly joined her, since they were in the same class, and they made their way to their lockers.

"How did you do on the test Sere? I got a 79, and of course, Amy got a perfect." Amy blushed and Mina rolled her eyes as they each opened their lockers to retrieve their lunches.

"Terrible, I think I might've gotten the lowest grade in that class or the history of this school, I really hate biology." Serena grunted as she got her lunch and slammed her locker.

"Bummer, maybe we shouldn't have gone to that concert the night of the test and stayed home to study." Mina said as she was starting to regret her own score.

"I don't regret it. It was a great concert and besides this is like the first time I've ever really failed a test and if I keep up my marks on the other assignments I'll still pass with a B or if I’m super lucky, a really low A." Serena reassured herself as she leaned against her locker waiting for her friends to get what they needed from theirs.

"That's the spirit, but not trying to bring you down anymore but the B might not be high enough for your parent's approval and same with that A." Amy replied with a grim expression.

"And they are so going to blow a gasket once they find out your grade. They may never let you leave the house! They'll take your phone and computer away, you won't have any access to the outside world. Oh Serena we can't lose you!" Mina dramatically expressed her concerns as she grabbed Serena by the shoulders and shook her.

"Don't worry Mina, if they don't find out about the test then we won't have anything to worry about." Serena stated proudly, then a thought hit her. "Amy you can't tell your mom about the test. Please, my parents work with your mom and your mom loves to brag about you to my parents. They'll find out and my life will be over." Serena begged her shy friend. Amy just squirmed.

"I don't know Serena, I hate lying to my mother and you all know I'm terrible at it."

"Just tell her that we didn't get them back yet. That Haruna hasn't finished grading everyone's papers." Mina chipped in.

"Okay I'll try," Amy agreed, and the girls closed their lockers and headed towards the court yard to sit in their usual spot under the big oak tree. While walking through the halls, the girls and another group of students weren't watching where they were going and Serena crashed into someone both of them dropping some of their books and papers, causing a little scene between the two groups.

"Oh my, gosh I am so sorry!" Serena said as she bent down to help pick up the papers that she had dropped and tried to separate the papers to what was hers and the other person's work.

"You really should pay a little more attention when walking Meatball Head, or maybe next time you'll run into an open locker and really hurt yourself." A voice said next to her with a harsh icy tone.

"Ugh you are such a jerk Darien!" Serena wailed as she looked up to the senior with heated eyes.

"At least I'm not the one failing tests. Seriously Meatball Head? A 30? I thought you were at least a little smarter than that," Darien said with a chuckle as Serena snatched the test paper out of his hand, got up and walked away with her friends chasing after her.

"Rena slow down!" Amy said as she and Mina rushed to catch up to their blonde haired friend.

"I can't believe he's still calling me that," Serena said with tear filled eyes, just waiting to be shed. "I haven't had that hair style since junior high. Ugh he's such a jerkwad!"

"Yeah, Darien is a jerk, but he's a hot sexy jerk. You're so lucky he even gives you the time of day Sere." Mina said as they sat down in their usual spot and started to pick at her salad.

"Mina, I don't think that's helping the situation right now." Amy pointed out as she pointed Mina's attention towards their friend who was completely ignoring her food and was hugging her knees to her chest with her head bowed down, breathing a little heavily.

"Serena, he's a jerk. There's no need to cry over him. Don't give him that satisfaction." Mina said as she tried to comfort her friend by rubbing her back.

"Guys you don't get it, yeah he's a jerk but I can't ignore him when I constantly see him everywhere. He's Andrew's best friend and practically lives at my house because they're always hanging out. And my parents adore him! My mother doesn't even believe one word I say about him being a jerk, since he always hides it whenever they're around." The tears started to fall and Serena was starting to feel a little helpless. She really didn't know what to do about Darien, she just couldn't wait for the school year to finally be over and have him graduate and leave for college. She hoped he would go somewhere very far away from her.

"Well graduation is a little over a year away since the school year just started, but you could always try to change schools. We are juniors and it’s not like going to another school is going to affect your transcript." Amy said trying to calm Serena down.

"Yeah, you could go to that all-girls school with Raye! OMG their uniforms are so cute! So much cuter than our new uniforms. Ugh this blazer is so itchy! I can't wait for winter when I can wear long sleeve shirts under this itchy thing! What was our principal thinking when he ordered this? At least the skirts are cute and they're shorter than last years!" Mina ranted on and on about their new navy blue, gold, and white uniforms. The blazers were navy blue with gold and white lining, they wore white button down dress shirts, navy blue, gold and white ties, and the pleated skirts were navy blue and they were about half an inch longer than fingertip length. And Mina was in love.

"Mina the only reason why your skirt is so short is because you ordered the petite size instead of your regular size." Serena said with a giggle as her appetite was coming back to her and she started to snack on her ham and cheese sandwich.

"And I still got away with it," Mina said proudly as she ate a grape. Amy just giggled at her friends and turned her attention back to her psych book.

"Have you guys heard back from Lita yet? I haven't seen her since the day before she left for training with her Sensei," Serena asked.

"I haven't heard anything, but she should be back soon, I mean we are just in our first month back to school." Mina said with a shrug and played with her skirt, trying to make it just a little bit shorter. "I can't wait for her to come back though so she can help me make this thing a little shorter."

"Mina why do you like your clothes so short and tight?" Serena questioned throwing some grapes at her blonde haired friend.

"There are so many hot boys here, I just love teasing them. Plus my English teacher is so hot! And I know that he's noticed me and has been looking at me in class." Mina said with a teasing wink as she tried to bat away the flying grapes coming at her.

"Lita emailed me last night saying she won’t be back for another month or so, close to Halloween." Amy answered as she put her book down to look at her two blonde friends and just sighed as she watched their grape throwing battle commence. "Guys the bell's about to ring, we should get ready to go to gym." Amy said as she put her books away. Serena groaned in agony since she hated gym but also Mina just threw a grape and hit her right above the eye.

"Yes! I get to wear my new shorts!" Mina said as she pulled out yellow gold colored booty shorts out of her bag.

"Mina you can't wear those-" Amy said and Mina cut her off.

"Don't worry I already asked if I could and our teacher just said that if my cheeks don't show and they're school colors so I'm good, they're just short enough to tease the boys in our class and we're doing Volleyball," Mina said excitedly as the bell rang and she jumped to her feet, helping Serena get up and then linked her arms with Serena and Amy as they headed to the locker rooms to change.


	2. Chapter 2

~*~*~*~*~  
Chapter  
Two  
~*~*~*~*~

The rest of the school day went in a blur and the girls were now headed to the Crown to meet up with Raye for their usual afternoon hangout with milkshakes and attempting to flirt with some of the cute boys at the Crown.

"Oh, there's Raye!" Mina said as she rushed to meet up with their friend.

"Hey guys!" Raye greeted as she got out of her seat to have a group hug with her friends. Everyone was giddy and excited, everyone but Serena. "What's got you so down in the dumps Meatball Head?"

"Seriously? You're still gonna keep calling me that?" Serena snapped out of her trance and questioned her friend.

"Well you spaced out like you used to when you were 14. It was the only way to get you back to planet Earth," Raye said with a giggle and Serena gave her a death glare. "But seriously though, what's got you down in the dumps?"

"I don't really wanna talk about it," Serena replied as she took a seat in their usual booth.

"Don't mind her," Mina said after Raye gave them a look. "She's just bummed out about her grade on our bio test we got back today."

"Traitor! You said you wouldn't tell!" Serena yelled and Mina waved a dismissive hand.

"I promised I wouldn't tell your parents and Drew, not our other clueless friend." Mina pointed out and Serena slumped back into her seat.

"Okay stop pouting, Sere." Raye said as she, Mina and Amy took their seats in the booth. She and Mina shared a sly look at each other, knowing exactly how to help out their friend. "We have just the thing to take your mind off of your failed test."

"What's that?" Serena asked looking up to her friends with a hopeful look.

"Boys," Mina said as she pulled Serena out of the booth and rushed her into the girl’s bathroom to get her 'boy' ready.

"I don't think this is a good idea Mina," Serena tried to convince her way out of it but Mina and Raye wouldn't have it.

"Okay now fold the waist line about three times—perfect! And now unbutton the first two—Rena are you wearing a tank under your shirt?" Mina asked as she tried to work on her master piece.

"Yeah, I always do. Would you stop trying to make me look slutty? I'm not going out there and flirt with guys. Plus if Drew decides to come here after practice, I'm dead meat." Serena said as she tugged on her skirt to try to make it lower thigh length again but Mina pulled it back up.

"Serena you seriously need to relax or how else are you going to find a boyfriend let alone swipe your V Card? You're 16 now, you're of age. Plus I would like to be able to talk to you about this stuff without you being clueless and having to show you porn to know what I'm talking about." Raye said with a huff and Amy blushed bright tomato red.

"Guys I'm just not ready yet." Serena said shyly.

"Rena, we're not trying to pressure you or force you to lose it today, but we are hoping soon. Even Amy lost it during the summer to that Greg guy at Science Camp!" Mina said then whispered to Amy, "It was Science Camp right?" Amy shyly nodded yes.

"Yeah, and I have Chad who thinks we have some kind of relationship going, he's just better than some of the other guys I've been with." Raye said crossing her arm and moved to sit on the sink ledge.

"Yeah! And I've got—" Mina had to think about that one.

"Every guy at your school," Raye replied with a smirk.

"Exactly! Hey! Not every guy Raye! There is this one guy that I've been trying to impress but girl code says I can't have him." Mina sulked.

"You can have Andrew if you want him Mina. Just don't hate him afterwards cause then you won't be allowed back at my house until he leaves for college next year." Serena said and Mina let out a happy yelp, then all three girls were staring at their friend expectantly. Letting out a heavy sigh, Serena caved, “Okay fine, I'll do it."

"Yay! Okay well we'll just have to lower the tank to help out with the tease. Did you wear that push up bra I told you to wear?" Mina asked as she went to work.

"Mina, I'm a C cup, isn't a push up going to be too much?" Serena asked and received a glare from her blonde friend. "I did wear it."

"Perfect! Now finish up with this and let’s head out, I have shit tons of homework to finish before I have to head to the temple tonight." Raye said as Amy followed her out of the bathroom and back to their booth to study and do homework.

"Mina you suck," Serena said as Mina finished her work and pulled her blonde friend out of the bathroom and back to their table.

All eyes were on the girls and some guys made the effort to come over and talk to the girls. Raye had finished all of her homework, as well as Amy, and Mina forced Serena to pay attention to the boys and took her backpack away from her so she could have her distraction. But it was when a guy was asking for her number, Serena was curious of the time.

"It's 15 minutes till 5," the boy responded and Serena bolted from her seat and snatched her bag from Mina.

"It's almost 5, my mom is gonna kill me! If I'm still alive and not grounded, I'll see you guys tomorrow!" Serena yelled as she ran out the door and to her home. She fixed her uniform back to the way it was before Mina tampered with it and it was 5 minutes after 5 when she walked through the doors to her house. "Hi Mom I'm home!" Serena shouted as she rushed upstairs to dump her backpack in her room and change her clothes, she only got to toss her bag into her room before her mom called her down to the kitchen to talk to her. "You wanted to talk?" Serena asked as she sheepishly walked into the kitchen where her mom was preparing dinner.

"Oh its nothing bad sweetie, I just wanted to talk and see how your day was. Since your father and I have been so busy lately with work, it feels like we never talk anymore." Ikuko asked her 16 year old daughter.

"Pretty uneventful," Serena replied simply to her mother.

"Really? There weren't any tests or anything?" Ikuko questioned on as she started cutting some vegetables for the dinner she was preparing.

Serena gulped nervously, hoping her mother didn't know anything. "Ms. H did start handing out the test we took last Wednesday, but she didn't grade all of them yet. Mina, Amy, and I are still waiting for ours." Serena lied through gritted teeth, she hoped she could get away with it.

"Serena," Ikuko said with a sigh as she stopped her work to look at her daughter, "Your teacher called and informed us that you received the lowest grade in the class."

Serena sweat dropped as her fears of the situation were coming true. She always felt like she was letting her parents down when she failed something, but that never happened until now. Serena's parents are doctors and just like Amy with her doctor mother, they expected nothing but top marks from their children. Anything lower than a B meant that you need a tutor and Serena hated tutors, she just barely liked teachers since she preferred to learn the material on her own. She had tutors back during junior high and they did nothing but do her work for her, they just wanted to seem like they were doing something so they could get paid. The only time they really helped her understand the material was when she had a test or final exam to prepare for.

Her parents aren't as harsh on Andrew, since all he does is play sports and needs to keep a B average to even qualify for any of the scholarships he's looking at. And her little brother Sammy is just a little genius who literally knows almost everything there is to know.

Since Serena never really did anything at school, and she spent most of her free time just hanging out with her friends, she had an agreement set up with her parents. If she could maintain nothing but straight A's in all of her classes, she would be able to do whatever she wanted to do. She wouldn't have a curfew, she wouldn't have a tutor, she would have her credit card to spend on whatever she wanted to spend it on, but more importantly her parents would never question her about where she was going and what she was doing. All of this was going to change now since she had failed that biology test. Her grade had changed to a C, a high one, but to her parents that was like as if she was failing the class.

"Mom, please, don't do this. I'll go to Ms. Haruna tomorrow and ask her if there are any extra credit assignments I can do to boost up my grade. I'll even ask her if I can redo the test to bring up my grade. Mom please, I-I can't have a tutor again." Serena begged her mother as the tears welled up in her eyes. She wasn't crying because she's a crybaby, no she grew out of that stage last year, she was tearing up because this was her letting her parents down and now they have to do something to help her out of the hole she dug herself in.

"Serena, I've already talked to your father and it's already been decided. You’re grounded and we are hiring you a tutor immediately, whether you like it or not, and you will have this tutor until you boost that grade back up to an A when report cards come out. I’ll come get your phone and computer before bed so you have time to explain what happened to your friends." Ikuko said as she went back to cooking dinner. Serena let out a hopeless sigh, there was nothing else that she could do about the situation. She just hoped who ever this tutor was, they wouldn't help her and she was already planning on making their lives hell during their sessions.

As Serena was turning to leave the kitchen to head to her room, the front door opened and Andrew came in with some of his friends. When Serena walked through the entrance to the kitchen to head upstairs, she bumped shoulders with Darien. Actually it was more like her shoulder bumped his upper arm, since she was shorter than average. They both felt some kind of sparky jolt but Serena refused to make any eye contact with him when he looked down to her, still upset about what happened at lunch and just now with her mom. When she reached the stairs, she bolted up them as fast as she could, slammed the door to her room and threw herself on to her bed. Today was the worst day ever.

Darien watched with concerned eyes as Serena walked past him and bolted up the stairs to her room. He felt bad about pretty much calling her stupid at the beginning of lunch, but he wasn't going to do anything to apologize. That’s just how they were. They insulted each other, argued, and fought. Majority of those confrontations would be the highlight of his day. He was always fond of the small blonde but couldn't do anything since Andrew made it clear he didn't want any of his friends trying to date his little sister, so to prevent anything from happening Darien would argue with her to keep her away.

"Hey mom, the guys and I are gonna head upstairs to study. We have a chem test tomorrow." Andrew said to Ikuko as he went into the kitchen and grabbed an apple to snack on before dinner.

"That's fine sweetie. I'm making more than enough food here so if you boys get hungry don't be afraid to come down and get some food." Ikuko said as she stopped cooking to look up at the group of four boys. She remembered something when her eyes landed on Darien. "Darien can I talk to you for a second? I just need to ask you something, it won't take long." Ikuko said as the rest of the boys headed upstairs to Andrew's room to study.

"Sure, what's up Mrs. Tsukino?"

"I heard a rumor and I want to know if it’s true." Ikuko asked as she eyed Darien suspiciously and Darien gulped nervously thinking that she heard about him and Serena fighting.

"What did you hear?" Darien asked as he sucked in a deep breath.

"That you're tutoring again to save up money for college."

Darien sighed out the breath he was holding, relieved. "Yeah, I am. You know med school isn't cheap and even though I do have a few scholarships lined up none of them pay for the full cost, and I kind of want to save the trust fund my parents left me after the accident. Plus I also have an internship lined up with a professor in America after graduation, if that goes good then I'll be going to school there at Harvard. It’s been a dream of mine to go to school there.” Darien said proudly.

“Are you tutoring a lot of students right now?” Ikuko questioned on.

“Not really, I’ve been tutoring these three junior high students but all of their marks have gone up and they really don’t need me anymore.” Darien said with a shrug. “Why do you ask Mrs. Tsukino?”

“Kenji and I want to know if you’ll be willing to tutor Serena.” Ikuko asked and Darien stood there shocked. “Her biology grade has significantly dropped and her grade now is unacceptable and we also notice that she’s been having a bit of trouble in her math class. We want to help you Darien, Kenji and I talked and we want to help you pay for college. You’ve been friends with Andrew since you two were in diapers and you are practically family. Please Darien, will you accept our offer?”

“S-sure” Darien stuttered in shock at their offer.

“Good, and when Serena gets her marks back up to all A’s you can go back to tutoring other students, but we’ll still pay for your college. And if her marks drop again you’ll be able to help her again.” Ikuko said with a smile as Darien took in the information. “She’s in too much of a mood right now I believe, so you two can start your sessions on Wednesday? Give her tomorrow to kind of settle down a bit.”

“Okay that sounds good.” And with that all said and agreed upon, Darien headed upstairs to Andrew’s room to study for their chemistry test for tomorrow.


	3. Chapter Three

~*~*~*~*~  
Chapter  
Three  
~*~*~*~*~

“Ugh! I still can’t believe Haruna called my parents! One bad grade and I’m thrown into the gutter.” Serena whined into her cell phone to her friends.

“Damn she called the rents?” Mina questioned and got an annoyed whining sound from her friend in response. “So what’s the damage?”

“Phone and computer are gone for a month, unless it’s for a school related project and I’m back on curfew.” Serena answered.

“Well that’s not too bad, it could be worse.” Raye said.

“Oh no Raye that’s just the cake, here’s the icing: since I did so badly I have to have a tutor again.”

“NO!” Raye and Mina said disbelievingly in unison.

“Yeah and they already have one picked out for me.” Serena groaned into her pillow.

“Girl you better get that grade back up soon or else you won’t be able to go to Lita’s party!” Mina said.

“Wait, she’s finally decided about the party?” Serena quickly sat up in her bed, her interest peaked.

“Yeah, but she’s doing this Project X type shit where she’s not giving out any details until the day of the party.” Raye said.

“And apparently her new boyfriend is some famous EDM DJ so everyone is gonna be at this party. Like the location is a secret until the day of and I think she said something about charging admission to get in and she’s getting high end security for the party too, like she’s already got permits and what not for it.”

“Ugh I need to go! It sounds like it’s gonna be the hottest party until New Year’s!” Serena was starting to get depressed. Lita was coming back at the end of next month and her punishment went until the week after Lita gets back into town, a week after her party.

“Sere it’s gonna be bigger than New Year’s. It’s gonna be the party to top for like the next 5 years!” Mina said excitedly.

“Well if my punishment is still going I’m gonna have to sneak out. There is nothing on this planet that’ll prevent me from going to this party, especially not my parents.” Serena said determinedly. Their conversation had shifted to lighter gossip conversations from who was dating who now to what certain girls wore to their schools and out in public. The conversation continued on for about twenty minutes until there was a knock on Serena’s bedroom door.  
“Hey guys I gotta go, I’m now officially on house arrest. See ya tomorrow.” Serena said goodbye to her friends and told whoever it was at her door to come in. “Come in” Serena responded to the knock at her door. The door slowly opened, revealing Ikuko behind the door. Serena picked up her laptop and cell phone handing the items to her mother. Ikuko only took the laptop.

“Your punishment starts on Wednesday. You can have your phone until tomorrow evening before bed and you can get it back during school hours but when you get home, it’s gone. Any questions?” Ikuko asked as she handed the phone back to her daughter and held the laptop at her side. Serena shook her head no and lightly held the phone in her hand.

“Thanks mom,” she said with a soft smile.

“Serena, we’re not doing this to torture you. We’re doing this because we care and we want you to be able to do what you want in life. With good grades you can go to whatever school you want to go to. We’re stricter on you because you are our baby girl. Andrew has his sport scholarships, Sam just started middle school but he learned good work ethic from watching you and Drew. We are very proud of you sweetie and we want you to have a good future. Now get that grade back up to an A.” Ikuko said as she walked up to her daughter and kissed her forehead, then turned and headed to the door, “Goodnight baby, I love you.”

“I love you too mom, good night.” Serena replied as she watched her mother close the bedroom door shut.

Serena let out a sigh as she decided that it was time for bed. After she changed into her sleep wear, washed her face and brushed her teeth, Serena found herself lying in bed and her mind started to wander. All of her friends either were in a relationship or have had relationships. Guys rarely asked Serena out unlike Lita, Raye, and Mina. Even quiet Amy has had a boyfriend.

Serena sulked, she loved the idea of being in a relationship and she loved the idea of being in love. Her dreams were always filled with a romance storyline that she would see in movies but the guy was always darkened out, her imagination teasing her.

Serena quickly reminded herself not to get her hopes up, Andrew pretty much ruined her love life until he leaves for college. Any guy who wants to ask her out has to go through Andrew first to get his approval and he always told them NO. If the guy doesn’t listen then Andrew takes matters into his own hands and usually gets his friends from the football team to “flush” them in the toilet or toss them into the dumpsters. One time he locked a guy in a porta-potty and knocked it over, the guy transferred schools the next day. All the guys at her school are too scared to ask her out, all except one… Melvin. Andrew only likes Melvin because he is a childhood friend and the biggest nerd in school.

Serena shivered at the thought of dating Melvin. He had one of the biggest crushes on her and he was very persistent in trying to get her to date him.

With those thoughts running through her mind, Serena’s dreams that night were plagued with the idea of her being lonely and loveless for the rest of her life.


	4. Chapter 4

~*~*~*~*~  
Chapter  
Four  
~*~*~*~*~

Tuesday morning found Serena running to school late. She had gotten no sleep last night, her dreams went from a nightmare of a date with nerdy Melvin to being rescued by a man clad in a tuxedo, top hat, long black cape, and a white mask. She remembered from the dream that he had jet black hair that fell just barely over his midnight blue eyes. Just thinking about him made her blush, but the more she thought about the tuxedo clad man the more familiar he seemed to her. She furiously shook her head and started to run harder, fearing she would miss the first bell.

Serena heard the first bell as she entered the school and she bolted to her first period making it to her seat right as the final bell rang.

‘Today is not my day,’ Serena thought with annoyance as she folded her arms on top of the table at her seat and laid her head on top.

She was lucky she had art first period instead of one of her other classes, especially biology with Haruna. Serena had her freshmen year first period and she would get detention almost every day for being late. Her art teacher didn’t care much about tardiness, just as long as you did your work. 

Another thing she was glad about her art class is that this is the only class she has with none of her friends. After that weird dream she had she really just needed sometime to herself to calm down from it.

Serena was so out of it and spaced out that she never noticed her teacher talking to the class about how their drawings are due at the end of the week and the bell was about to ring. It wasn’t until she felt a hand on her shoulder she realized what was going on.

“Everything okay Serena?” her art teacher asked with concerned eyes.

“Yeah, just had a really bad dream last night. I’m still kind of out of it.” Serena said as she packed up her things and started to head out of the room.

“Clowns or midgets?” her teacher asked as she walked back to her desk and Serena smiled at the reference.

“Neither, and thank God. I don’t think I’d be able to sleep for weeks if it was that. See you tomorrow Ms. K!” Serena said as she left the room giggling, her art teacher always knew how to lighten a tense situation. Serena hurried a little to get to her locker and became relaxed when she noticed that she had enough time to drop off some things and still get to class on time, especially since her next class was right by her locker.

“Serena! OMG I’m so glad I found you before second period! I don’t think I can carry two of these anymore! Here take it!” Mina said as she shoved a gym bag and school colored pompoms at her friend. “You’re still the same size as last year right? Oh well doesn’t matter, if the uniform doesn’t fit you can switch out the sizes at practice today.”

“Mina, I thought we agreed not to do cheer leading this year since Lita won’t be back until the end of the football season?” Serena questioned as she took the bag and pompoms and dropped them into her locker, not really caring about the objects.

“Yeah but I talked to Lita last night, after coach called practically begging for us to come back after this huge accident when some new fliers tried stuff way out of their level and got massively injured, which by the way they will not be returning later in the season, and I asked Lita if it was okay if we did it and she said that it was totally fine! So we are back on the team! I’m so excited, we got new uniforms to upgrade from last year and the skirts are just a little but shorter and a lot tighter. And we get to wear them to school on game day instead of our school uniforms! This is such a great year so far, now all I need is a boyfriend to make it perfect, preferably a football player. They always say junior year is the year you remember the most.” Mina said in awe as she slumped against Serena’s closed locker. Serena sighed and shook her head.

“Mina, you said the same thing last year and freshmen year and I bet you’re gonna say the same thing next year when we’re seniors then start the cycle all over again in college.” Serena joked as she linked her arm with her friend and started to guide them to their next class.

“Actually no, next year is going to be the most depressing year we will remember the most. I really don’t want to say goodbye to you guys, I’m not ready to let go of our friendship yet.” Mina sulked as they took their seats next to each other in their second period math class.

“Mina don’t worry about it. You and I will be going to Uni together after high school while Amy goes to med school and hopefully Raye will come with us and not stay at the temple. Plus Lita will already be at Uni so she could show us where all the hot campus parties will be at.” Serena said as she tried to reassure her friend that she wasn’t going anywhere and that they would be friends past graduation next year. Mina gave her a bright smile in response and they quickly turned their attention to their teacher who was starting to begin their lesson.

Serena’s attention was shortly drawn away from the lesson when she found a folded note on her desk. After she unfolded the note she read, ‘Don’t forget practice is at 2:30 after school, and don’t be late!’ Serena folded the note back up as she slightly shook her head and smiled to herself.

‘Yeah, this is gonna be a good year.’


	5. Chapter 5

~*~*~*~*~  
Chapter  
Five  
~*~*~*~*~

“Hey Ms. H, can I talk to you?” Serena asked as the bell for lunch rang and everyone exited the classroom.

“Sure Serena, what’s up?” Haruna said as she finished cleaning off the white board and took a seat at her desk.

“I talked with my parents last night and I was wondering if there was any way I could do some extra credit work to boost up my grade?” Serena asked nervously, she absolutely hated talking to her teachers about her grades.

Ms. Haruna quickly got onto her computer and pulled up the class list with all of their grades. “Serena your grade is still good, it’s a high C but it’s still better than most other students in this class. I personally think that if you just keep up with all of the other assignments and score highly on your tests you should be able to boost it up to a higher B maybe even an A by the end of the quarter.” Haruna tried to reason with her student.

Serena sighed, “Ms. H you just don’t get it, anything lower than a 90 is considered failing at my house. My parents got me a tutor because they think I’m doing so badly in this class. Please Ms. H, I’m begging you, is there anything that I can do to boost that grade up to an A as soon as possible?”

Ms. Haruna could see the determination in Serena’s eyes and also after the phone call that she had with Serena’s mother last night helped her understand Serena’s situation. “I do have something you can do.” Ms. H said as she opened a draw in her desk and pulled out a binder. She opened the binder and pulled out a packet and handed it to Serena. “I can give you a packet to do each week and every Friday after class you will turn them in. We don’t normally do extra credit but when a student in your situation comes to a teacher like this we have to give it to you. Just don’t let anyone else know that we do this.” Serena quickly shook her head understanding every word Haruna was talking about. She quickly thanked Haruna and then rushed out of the classroom heading to her locker to put the packet away and to retrieve her lunch.

“Now time to call mom and beg her to let me cheer again.” Serena said to herself with a sigh as she got her cell phone out and quickly dialed her mother’s number. The call was pretty fast and Serena was surprised that her mother was even happy—no her mother was excited that she was back on the cheer squad. Serena ended the call letting her mother know that she would be coming home late because Mina wanted to hold longer practices so they could get started on a new routine.

Serena hung up her phone and sent a quick text to Amy and Mina saying she was going to cram a bit and will see them during gym. Serena leaned against her locker and gave out a heavy sigh, things were starting to look up but that also meant that there was going to be something to try to ruin everything for her, and then she remembered she started her tutoring tomorrow. Serena turned around to face her locker and she punched it hard, leaving a small dent in the metal. It had hurt a lot and her hand started to throb, but she was relieved that no one was around. That is until she heard a deep chuckle from behind.

“I’m more than sure that you’re locker isn’t a punching bag. Why so mad Meatball Head?” The deep voice said as Serena turned around to see Darien walking up to her. The playful smile on his lips faltered when he saw how upset she was and then saw how red and swollen her hand was. “Let’s get you to the nurse to get your hand checked out,” Darien suggested and Serena slowly nodded as she began to walk down the hallway with him.


	6. Chapter 6

~*~*~*~*~  
Chapter  
Six  
~*~*~*~*~

Darien was bored during lunch.

All of his friends either had lunch detention or had to go in for lunch help for their assignments. He was surprised though that he didn’t have a lunch detention with Andrew, since he took the fall for both of them. 

‘But I guess that’s what brothers do for each other.’ Darien thought with a shrug.

Darien grew up neighbors with the Tsukino’s. His parents were good friends and colleagues with Kenji and Ikuko at the hospital, and he and Andrew were only a few months apart. Darien’s mother quickly became a house wife after she had him and she took care of him and Andrew during the day while her husband and the Tsukino’s were at work.

Darien remembered when after Serena was born, the three of them were inseparable. They played together, ate together, were bathed together, they cried together, had their diapers changed together, and the three took naps together. However, Darien was closer to Serena growing up than he was to Andrew. It wasn’t until they were seven, and started playing sports together, they grew closer and Serena was slowly getting left out of the picture as she started to make friends with girls from her school.

Darien had a happy childhood up until he turned 8, that was when his world came crashing down. His parents had went away on a trip for their anniversary and left him in the care of the Tsukino’s. His parents were supposed to come home that Monday, but they had been in a terrible car accident. His father died on impact and his mother was in the ICU for about a week. She woke up in time to tell Darien that she loved him and that everything was going to be okay, but she had heart failure and died peacefully later that night.

Darien was put into his grandfather’s custody and he didn’t live that far away from the Tsukino’s, but Darien rarely ever stayed with his grandfather for he was a cruel and distant man. Darien always stayed with Andrew and they became like brothers. Darien stayed at the house so much that Ikuko and Kenji had put an extra bed in Andrew’s room. Life was starting to feel good again as Darien and Andrew picked on Serena, played as many sports as they could (but mainly played football, basketball, and baseball), and they would play a lot with Andrew’s new little brother Sammy.

Things were going great until four years later Darien’s grandfather passed. Though he wasn’t close to him it was hard facing the hard truth that his only known and last relative was gone. The Tsukino’s took him into custody but they never did adopt Darien, the timing wasn’t right and they didn’t want it to ruin Darien’s friendship with Andrew and they really didn’t want Serena getting madder about Darien constantly being at the house.

Darien, however, didn’t stay with the Tsukino’s for very long. Since he was the only child and grandson, Darien received a very large fortune from his family and with that money he asked Kenji and Ikuko if it was alright for him to get his own place and live on his own. They agreed and Darien got his first apartment shortly after he turned 14 with their help. The Tsukino’s put their name on the lease, though Darien used his inheritance to pay rent, three times a week either Ikuko or Kenji would stop by the apartment to see if everything was going alright with Darien and to make it look like a teenager wasn’t living there on his own. 

Darien had kept up with his sports, since it was therapeutic and somewhat filled an emptiness in him and gave him a sense of belonging, and he and Andrew became very good. Last season was the first time ever that Juban High School had a team that made it to the championship and won. With Andrew as quarterback and Darien as a running back, and a few other good defensive/offensive teammates, they were unstoppable and so far they’re doing better this season than they were last. They’re record right now is undefeated, even though they’ve only played two games, and Darien was determined to keep it that way and nothing was going to stop him.

Though Darien did suffer from some major losses in his life, it didn’t stop him from dating but he’s never had a fully committed relationship. There was one girl, however, which he did try to have a relationship with but she just used him as she did with mostly all the other guys at their school. Darien also had a really hard time opening up about his feelings and especially his past, but he never had a problem expressing his feelings with a certain Meatball Head. 

He just wished she had kept her hair that way.

Darien sighed.

These were usually the thoughts that would run through his head whenever he was alone and had a lot of time to himself. He was just randomly wondering the hallways and didn’t even realize he made it to the junior hallway until he heard a loud bang and a tiny whimper. He looked up from the floor to see Serena, his meatball head, holding her sore hand to her chest and staring at the new dent in her locker.

‘My Meatball Head? When did she become mine? I don’t even want her. I don’t even care about her, but she is Drew’s little sister and he’s extremely protective of her. She sure is cute though… wait when did this happen? No, I can’t do this. She’s Drew’s little sister and tomorrow I’m going to be her tutor. Keep things serious Darien.’ Darien argued in his mind as he walked up to the small blonde.

“I’m pretty sure lockers aren’t meant to be punching bags. Why so mad Meatball Head?” Darien playfully joked but everything turned serious when he saw the pained look in her eyes and she had no comeback after he called her by her most hated nickname. “C’mon, let’s get you to the nurse and get ice for that hand.” Serena slowly nodded and followed him down the hallway towards the nurse’s office.

The hallways were strangely quiet and empty for a regular lunch period and Darien was starting to think karma had something to do with all of this. Starting tomorrow after school, he was going to be her new tutor. Darien knew how Serena felt about tutors, she hated them and would try to do everything in her power to make them quit. He quietly hoped that she didn’t try any of her nasty tricks to get him to quit. Even though they argued a lot, it didn’t mean that he didn’t like her. She always held a soft spot in his icy cold heart.

“You know you don’t have to walk me to the nurse.” Serena said quietly, breaking the silence between the two of them.

“No I do,” and when he looked down and saw her big blue eyes widen he just couldn’t help himself, “I need to make sure all of the other lockers don’t feel your wrath Meatball Head.” He said with a mocking chuckle.

“Ugh, you’re such a jerk Darien and stop calling me that! My hair isn’t like that anymore.” Serena yelled as she hit him with her golden waist length high pony tail. He caught the hair before it really hit him and her hair felt like gold silk. It was so beautiful he couldn’t help but stare at it in awe as it cascaded out of his hand and back to her waist slowly curling itself back into her curls, and he noticed the small blonde trying to hide her blush.

After an awkward moment of silence, they finally reached the nurse’s office and a small plump lady with ginger hair sat behind the desk.

“Did you fall again sweetie?” the nurse asked as she got up and headed to the freezer to get an icepack out to hand to the blonde.

Serena opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted, “No, her hand got slammed by the locker on accident. We were talking and I didn’t realize her hand was still in the locker when I went to close it.” Darien covered for her and Serena just stared on in awe.

“Nothing seems to be broken… if the pain gets worse have your father look at it when you get home Miss Tsukino.” The nurse said as she handed the blonde girl the ice pack and the two left the nurse’s office.

“You didn’t have to do that you know,” Serena said as they continued to walk down a random hallway.

“If you told her the truth you would probably get detention for damaging school property.” Darien stated and Serena stopped walking as Darien stopped and placed a hand on her shoulder and leaned in close to her ear, “You can thank me later.” He whispered and then walked away down the hallway as the bell rang leaving a blushing blonde beauty standing still in the middle of a now crowded hallway watching his retreating figure leave.


	7. Chapter 7

~*~*~*~*~  
Chapter  
Seven  
~*~*~*~*~  
The Next Day

Serena entered her bedroom, tossed her backpack onto her desk chair and tossed her cheer bag towards her closet, then flopped down onto her bed with a heavy sigh. Her morning classes were pretty stressful, she had three tests that morning, but everything seemed to calm down after lunch and she had begun to relax. Cheer practice after school had consisted of Mina handing out the new uniforms and fitting everyone into them. Serena loved the new uniforms with their school colors. The uniforms were three pieces the skirt, an under armor midriff, and a shell shirt to complete the uniforms. The base color was navy blue and it had gold and white trimmings around the uniform and had the letters JHS on the chest of the shirt shell. She was currently still in her uniform, since she didn’t have enough time to change at school since she was running late to get home for her tutoring. She was too lazy, though, to change out of her uniform and just took off the shirt and left on the midriff and the skirt. She braided her long hair into a side fishtail braid.

The only thing she was glad about school was that she didn’t see Darien at all today. They didn’t have any classes together but with their class schedules and the routes that they take to class, they normally see each other in between most of their classes and after their interaction yesterday, she didn’t think she would be able to face him without blushing up a storm. Darien usually did that to her whenever he caught her off guard. There was just something about him that she hated but loved at the same time. She knew for a fact that she didn’t have a crush on him, the thought just made her want to vomit. Though they practically lived together growing up, she never viewed him as a brother. He was Andrew’s best friend and the biggest jerk on the planet to her. But every now and then they had their moments and there was just always something about him, she just couldn’t explain it, but she always felt safe and complete around him.

She had heard Andrew complaining last night that his football coach was having the team practice all day on Wednesday because their next game was against their rival team, Azabu High School, and they were currently tied in their division, both teams undefeated. Serena and Mina had missed the first two games of the season but Serena didn’t really care much about it. She hated football but she loved cheerleading. Before she had gotten into high school and started to cheer, she would refuse to go to any of her brother’s games because she thought they were too boring. She never paid any attention to the games and would just chat with Mina and Lita the entire time. This season was going to be weird with Lita gone until the end of October.

Feeling too lazy to change her clothes into something else, Serena made her way over to her desk and began working on her homework. About 20 minutes later her phone started ringing and when she answered it was her mom telling her that her tutor was here and they were coming upstairs to her room.

Serena rolled her eyes and sighed in annoyance when she heard a knock at her door.

“Go away, wrong room!” Serena yelled as she continued working on her English homework with her back to the door. She heard the door open and then close. Letting out another annoyed sigh Serena turned around, ready to give her tutor her speech about how she doesn’t need their help, but her words were trapped in the back of her throat when she saw who had entered into her room. Her annoyance turned into anger. “Seriously? You practically live here, you should know where Andrew’s room is by now.” Serena stood up and crossed her arms over her chest. She was going to stand her ground, this was her room and she wasn’t going to let him get to her. ‘But he looks so cute—wait what the hell am I thinking?! He’s not cute! He’s an annoying arrogant jerk!’

“I’m not here to see Andrew,”

‘No… it can’t be—he can’t be.’ Serena was in denial. “Seriously Darien, what are you doing in my room? If you’re here to talk, I can’t, my tutor should be coming up soon.” Serena said as she went back to sit at her desk chair and stared Darien down with heated angry eyes.

“Your mom didn’t tell you?” Darien asked as he raised an eyebrow and smirked.

“Tell me what?”

“I’m your tutor, hey I didn’t know you were a cheerleader.” Darien commented jokingly, though he had to admit she looked pretty damn good in that uniform. ‘Stop it, she’s your best friend’s little sister and you’re only here to tutor her.’ Darien scolded himself.

Serena quickly got up and rushed to her door, hitting Darien with her shoulder, as she opened her door and started yelling. “Mom how could you do this to me?! MOM!” Serena yelled but was quickly shut up when Darien put his hand over her mouth.

“Would you shut up Meatball Head? Your mom left to run some errands, your dad won’t be home for a while, Sam is at a friend’s house and Drew is at work. Trust me, I don’t want him finding out and giving me shit about it.” Darien said he let go of her and went back into her room and put his backpack next to the small coffee table she had in the middle of her large room.

“You know I don’t actually need a tutor, I just fucked up on one test.” Serena gave in and went back to her desk.

“I know, I talked to your mom and she said Haruna gave you an extra credit packet to work on. She said that’s what I really need to help you with, is bringing up your bio grade.” Darien responded as he started taking his homework out of his bag and started working on it.

“Okay, this is what we’re gonna do since I really don’t have any say in this. Each session we do we work on our own homework, we don’t talk, when I’m done I’ll give you my work to check over and most importantly we don’t talk.” Serena said as she went back to her homework. She was almost done with everything and the sooner she finished, the sooner he could leave her room.

“Fine with me,” Darien said under his breath, Serena just barely heard him, as he started the last two assignments he had to do for homework.

An hour had passed since the two had said a word to each other, it was a tense awkward silence and neither of them liked it, but they quickly got over it realizing that this was the only way they would get anything done without them trying to kill each other.

Serena had just finished the last of her homework and she was double checking her answers for her Math, History, and English homework. Everything seemed correct but there were some things from her Math homework that had confused her, but she wasn’t ready yet to cave in and ask for his help just yet.

Darien had finished the last of his assignments 15 minutes ago and was reading ahead for his advanced physics class when he felt a light tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see Serena handing him her homework.

“Can you check over my math? I just wanna make sure I got the right answers.” She asked shyly and Darien nodded his head as he took the papers from her and started to check over her work. He spent about 10 minutes double checking each problem and she had all her answers correct, a bit sloppy but all correct. He handed the worksheets back to her, “Thanks,” she said softly.

They started packing up their bags and when Darien was ready to leave Serena walked him downstairs to the front door.

“We should probably make a schedule for the next session,” Serena suggested as she started to accept the fact that her worst enemy was now her tutor.

“Sure umm Mondays, obviously Friday’s, and weekends I can’t do because of practice but my schedule is pretty open Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday after 3:30.”

“That works for me, but where should we meet up? We both don’t want anyone else finding out about this, especially Drew.” Serena tried her hardest to avoid all eye contact with him, she really hated this.

“The safest place would most likely be my place. It’s across town and no one from our school lives in that area.” Darien suggested and Serena agreed that would be best. “So tomorrow we’ll meet up there around 4ish?” Serena nodded and they stood in the doorway in an awkward silence. “Okay well I’ll see you tomorrow at school.” Darien said as he opened the door to exit.

“Yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow. Bye Darien.”

He left and Serena closed the front door and leaned against it, forget this year being a good year. So far it was the most confusing and annoying year she had ever had and she couldn’t wait until this tutoring was over. But there was a slight problem now, when Serena had closed her eyes to sleep that night, she could only think of Darien.


	8. Chapter 8

~*~*~*~*~  
Chapter  
Eight  
~*~*~*~*~

The next two weeks they had gotten into a routine, after practice Serena would go to the arcade for a half hour and then head over to Darien’s apartment to meet up with him at 5. They had agreed 5 was a better time to meet up so it would give some time to hang out with their friends for a bit and also for incase if their practices had gone over time than scheduled. Their sessions were only about 45 minutes long since they had a study period before practice and games, but sometimes they would go to an hour if Serena needed Darien to check over something.

Serena had never once asked Darien to show her or explain how something was done, but she struggled pretty hard with math. It was the one class that confused her, she was never good with numbers and was surprised she even did well on her tests to keep up an A in the class. But lately she hadn’t been doing too well and her grade was slowly drifting down to a B. Serena was just amazed that she made it to Algebra 2 since she did so bad with math.

It was Tuesday and they were currently at Darien’s apartment doing homework and studying for upcoming tests. Serena had finished all of her homework during lunch and study period, and all she had to work on was the study guide her math teacher had given her to work on for their upcoming test on Friday.

They were sitting at the large coffee table in the middle of Darien’s living room, books and papers littered the table and parts of the carpeted floor. Darien was reading ahead for some of his classes, he finished his homework during study period, and Serena was struggling hard with her study guide, quietly grunting and chewing on her pencil as she tried to solve the problems.

Darien could hear muffled sounds coming from Serena and he was starting to lose his concentration as she continued. When he looked at her, he couldn’t help but feel bad for her, she looked like she was having a really hard time with that study guide she was working on. He cleared his throat to try to get her attention, but that had gone onto deaf ears.

“What’s wrong Meatball Head?”

Serena’s head quickly shot up and she stared at him like a deer in the headlights, “Nothing’s wrong you big jerk.” She snapped back then tried to go back to her work.

“Something is wrong if you’re making those annoying sounds. Do you need help with anything? It’s why we’re doing this, so I can help you.”

Serena saw concern on Darien’s face, she let out a heavy sigh and caved, “Yeah, I’m having a really hard time with math. I’m terrible with numbers and this is just too much for me to understand. I have a test on it this on Friday and if I don’t do well on this my grade is gonna drop to a B.”

Darien got up and scooted closer next to Serena to look at what she was having trouble with. He was so close to her, she could feel how warm he was, and when she inhaled his sent filled her nostrils and it oddly relaxed her yet made her nervous at the same time. Goosebumps tingled on her arm when he touched her hand to grab the pencil out of it and began to explain how to solve the problems the simplest way he could. 20 minutes later she understood how to solve the problems and her entire packet was finished.

“Wow, I seriously was convinced that I would never understand any of this. Why weren’t you the one to teach this to my class the day we changed units? You’re seriously a way better teacher than Mr. Kono!” Serena exaggerated and Darien slightly blushed, thankful that the lights weren’t bright enough for her to notice and she was more focused on her worksheet than him.

“Do you want to review this tomorrow and Thursday to prep for your test?” Darien suggested as his blush went away.

“Yeah, that would be great! I’m not as confident about this subject as I would like to be.” Serena agreed and she started to pack up her bag and then left the apartment to head home.

The next two days they were both lucky they barely got any homework so they could focus on prepping Serena for her test Friday. Of course though when Darien tried to re-explain some things to Serena she would get a little attitude and they would argue, but it wasn’t much arguing since Darien got his point across to her and she started to focus back on her work. 

Friday finally came and Serena took her test, she wasn’t so confident that she had done well. She hadn’t slept well that night. Her parents had overnight shifts that night, so Andrew had a girl over and they wouldn’t shut up till 3am. Needless to say Serena only got two hours of sleep that night and she was already in a cranky mood. Math was her second period and after that test, her mood had gotten worse than before.

Serena sulked out of her math class when the bell rang and headed to her locker to switch out her books for history class next period.

“Hey Sere, how’d you do on the test? I think I did pretty well, but I didn’t study that much and I know I got at least four of those problems wrong.” Mina rambled on as Serena stayed quiet and leaned up against her locker after she closed it, rubbing her temples since she felt a headache coming on.

“Mina, I’m gonna need you to either slow down on your talking or just stop completely. And why are these damn skirts so short?!” Serena complained in annoyance as she tried to tug her cheer skirt lower so her ass wasn’t hanging out.

Mina was taken aback but then she realized that, though this wasn’t common, Serena was just in a bitch mood like how she is when she doesn’t sleep well or when she’s on her period. “Aww did little Bunny not get enough sleep last night? Or is it that time of the month?” Mina questioned jokingly and Serena just rolled her eyes at her friend.

“Not enough sleep, though I do envy your hyperness right now. How much sugar did you put in your coffee this morning?”

“Six packets,”

Serena’s eyes widened.

“What? It was too strong and I needed the sugar rush to get all peppy for the big game tonight!” Mina said jumping up and down. “C’mon Sere, we need to get to class or we’ll be late!” Mina grabbed Serena’s hand and dragged her down the hallway to their history class.

History and Biology passed by in an uneventful blur since Serena fell asleep in both classes, but she was lucky that they were watching movies in both classes. When lunch came around Serena, Mina, and Amy made their way to their usual spot in the court yard by the big oak tree. As Mina and Amy got their lunches out and got ready to eat, Serena got a blanket and pillow out of her cheer bag wrapped herself up in the blanket and laid her head down on the pillow and tried to fall asleep. Mina and Amy just stared at their friend with mouths opened shocked faces.

“Serena, aren’t you going to eat your lunch? You need energy for the game tonight.” Amy asked her best friend and couldn’t help but laugh a bit at her friend’s antics.

“Nope, I’ve been waiting for this since I got ready for school this morning and I don’t plan on moving until school is over.” Serena responded as she cuddled more into her pillow. Mina and Amy looked at each other and just shrugged it off and started to eat their lunches. A few moments later light snores could be heard from the small blonde wrapped up in the pink and white bunny blanket. Though much to her dismay, her dreams just would not let her fully fall asleep as she woke up every other 5 minutes from a small nightmare. Serena was half aware of what was going on around her, so when he showed up to her spot she thought she was dreaming.

“Why is she sleeping? Spirit week isn’t for another month. Getting a head start, huh, Meatball Head?” Darien said as he crouched down next to her and poked her with his pencil. She squirmed at the poke in her side and mumbled a few incoherent words. Darien just chuckled and poked her again, Mina also laughed at her friend’s reaction and Amy wasn’t paying attention as she was reading her biology book trying to get ahead on her assignments. “Meatball Head, wake up.” Darien said as he started to shake her awake but quickly stopped when he heard her growl.

“Go away, I’m trying to sleep here.” Serena growled as she peered out from her blanket cocoon and glared at Darien.

“You didn’t get any sleep last night? What too busy reading those silly comic books again?” Darien teased.

Serena sat up, “They are not silly and they are called MANGA! And if you wanna know why I didn’t get any sleep just asked your best friend what he was doing last night, I’m sure he’ll have all the answers you’ll need. Now GOODNIGHT!” Serena angrily said and then flopped back down onto her pillow to try to sleep again.

Darien wasn’t stupid and he could take a hint, but he never knew that his best friend would be that inconsiderate. ‘Wait… why should I care? I would do the same thing if I was in his situation.’ Darien thought as he continued walking down the hallway to his next class as the bell rang.


	9. Chapter 9

~*~*~*~*~  
Chapter  
Nine  
~*~*~*~*~

The football game that night was probably one of the biggest games they would play until the play-offs and the entire high school football stadium was jammed packed with both school’s rooting for their teams. It was a home game for Juban and the entire school had shown up for the game and a little more than half had showed up for Azabu. The ending score of the game was 47-6, Juban winning and everyone wondering how Azabu was tied with them for the lead. 

After the game everyone headed to The Crown to celebrate the big win, it was a tradition they started during Andrew and Darien’s freshmen year.

Serena and Mina were still in their uniforms but they weren’t sitting with the other cheerleaders and football players, they were sitting in a booth with their friends. Raye had managed to make it to the game to cheer on her friends with Amy. Raye had also managed to drag their friend Molly, from her private school, to come with her to the game. Molly was also friends with Mina, Serena, Amy, and Lita.

“You guys did amazing tonight and I’m talking about the cheerleaders. How do you do those stunts and not be terrified Serena?” Molly yelled over the music in the crowded arcade as she took a sip of her milkshake.

“Trust me Molly, it takes a lot of trust falls and practice to really trust those girls to catch me.” Serena said as rolled her eyes and then she rubbed her back that was in pain from all the falls she had during practice before the game, but she was happy that they had finally gotten everything perfect and didn’t drop her this time.

The girls continued to snack on some fries and burgers and drank their favorite milkshakes. Their conversations consisted of boys, Serena and Mina’s cute uniforms, the injury one of the players had faced during the game, and more boys. Raye had been whispering with Molly about something but it had went unnoticed to the others as Mina got excited about a new song that was playing and dragged Serena out to dance with some of their other classmates on the dance floor. Amy was, of course, reading a book for one of her classes.

“So who all is gonna be there Mol?” Raye asked quietly.

“It’s mainly people from our school but we can invite some people here too.” Molly answered.

“We need to make sure that Andrew and his friends don’t find out about it. Andrew will flip his shit and probably bust a nut.” Raye said and Molly was taken aback by her comment and almost spilled her milkshake.

“Raye!” Molly yelled as Raye had a giggle fit and then they both calmed themselves down. “Don’t worry about Drew finding out, I’ve got that covered.” Molly said as she looked out towards the crowd and saw Andrew getting cozy with his girlfriend Rita. “Drew’s gonna be a little distracted tonight.” Raye looked over to where Molly was looking and saw Andrew with Rita and nodded her head with a sly smile on her face.

“Tonight is gonna be fun. So you have everything ready at the house?”

“Yup, Max is gonna text me once he’s ready for us to come back to my place for our ‘sleepover’” Molly said making quotations with her fingers at the word sleepover.

Shortly after Mina came back to the booth, “What’s happening guys?”

“Not much, where’s Sere?” Raye questioned.

“Oh she went to the bathroom, she should be back any second.” Mina said with a wave of her hand.

Serena was making her way back to her friends when she felt a light tap on her shoulder. When she turned around she saw Darien and smiled in relief.

“Hey! Cool party huh?” Serena said jokingly.

“Not really my style, I’d rather be at home but Drew insisted I came.” Darien said as he put his hands in his pockets and smiled at the small blonde in front of him. He was slowly starting to like this girl and since they started tutoring he was starting to see a different side of her that she didn’t really show much anymore. He liked the part of the tutoring when they would be close together when he would explain and show her how to solve certain problems for her math and biology homework. Every now and then her long hair would touch his hand and he so badly wanted to touch it again, like when he did when he walked her to the nurse weeks before, but he knew he couldn’t especially with her father and Andrew’s dating rules for her and Andrew’s biggest rule for his friends was to not try to date his little sister. But following Andrew’s rules was starting to get difficult as he started to like her more and he was starting to realize that her cheer uniform was starting to tease him.

Serena slightly blushed at the way he looked at her. She couldn’t help but noticed how good he looked in his washed out jeans, black V-neck t-shirt, and forest green button up shirt (which was unbuttoned) with the sleeves rolled up his forearms. He made her nervous, she had never felt this nervous before, well except when she talked to Seyia in her history class. She and Seyia had made plans to go on a date tomorrow and she was really excited, but with Darien standing like that in front of her looking like that she couldn’t help but forget all about Seyia and think of the times when he would sit so close to her and their hands would touch and she could smell his cologne and she could feel how warm he was. She always felt safe around him, been like that since they were kids, but what she wouldn’t give right now to hug him and feel his warmth right now. But she stopped those thoughts when she remembered Andrew’s dating rules for her, rule number one being that she couldn’t date any of his friends, so her mind drifted back to Seyia and how she might be able to have a relationship that Andrew and her father would approve of.

“Same, I still have some homework to finish and a few tests to study for next week. Plus this stuff is kind of boring for me.” Serena said with a nervous giggle. They both stood awkwardly for a few minutes. “Well I should get back to my friends. They’re probably wondering where I am right now.”

“Yeah, you should, they might worry.” Darien responded and then they both went their separate ways.

“Serena, do you wanna have a sleepover at my place tonight?” Molly asked as Serena made it to their booth.

“Yeah, sure my parents have the nightshift again tonight and won’t be home till tomorrow afternoon. I just need to go home and get my stuff. Plus I can’t wait to get out of this stupid uniform,” Serena said as she grabbed her jacket and bags.

“It’s not a stupid uniform! It’s better than last years!” Mina argued.

“Well at least my ass wasn’t hanging out in last year’s. Seriously Mina, what is with you and short tight clothing?” Serena argued as she tried to tug her skirt back down.

“Stop fighting! I’ll go with you and we can take my car. I already have my stuff packed.” Raye said and Mina decided she wanted to go with them too.

The girls were quick and made it back to Molly’s place in 20 minutes. They went into Molly’s house from the front yard and failed to miss the bright lights coming from the back yard. They hadn’t changed into their pajamas yet, since Molly told them not to, and they were playing drinking games since Molly’s parents were out of town. The girls were already tipsy and Serena was on the verge of drunk since she was a lightweight. The girls were having tons of fun and Serena was finally beginning to relax until the doorbell rang and Molly and Raye smiled to each other as Raye got up to go downstairs and answer the door.

“Molly we didn’t order any pizza, did we?” A drunk Serena asked as Molly pulled her up from the floor, linked their arms together, and made their way downstairs following Raye.

As the girls walked down the stairs they started to hear unfamiliar voices, a lot of them, and they could hear loud music coming from the backyard. Mina quickly got excited and grabbed Amy to get her away from studying to go dance with some guys. Raye was holding the door open to greet some of her friends and Molly and Serena were standing at the bottom of the stairs, Serena staring drunkenly at the lot of people coming into the house quickly. She quickly recognized the next large group that came in to be students from her school.

“Molly, you’re having a party and didn’t think to tell me?!” Serena yelled over the loud music and voices talking.

“If we told you, you wouldn’t have come and we wanted to hang out with you.” Molly said giving her drunk friend puppy eyes.

“But what if—” Serena was cut off as Molly put her hand over her mouth to shut her up.

“Don’t worry, Sere. Andrew isn’t going to be here tonight because he’ll be a little too preoccupied with Rita.” Molly felt Serena relax under her hand and then let go of her. “Let’s go get some more drinks so you can enjoy tonight.” Serena nodded and followed Molly to the kitchen.

“I seriously wish you gave me a warning to dress nicely at least.” Serena complained as she looked down at her outfit. She wore short jean shorts, a black tank, and a pink cardigan with black flats. Her hair was braided into a side braid.

“Serena you look hot, you have nothing to worry about.” Molly reassured her friend as she poured her a drink of coke and rum, basic but strong. “Just drink Sere,” Molly said as she took a sip from her drink.

15 minutes later Serena was outside with Mina, Raye, Amy, and Molly dancing on the field turned into dance floor next to the pool. Molly had Max set up a small stage so he could DJ on it, colorful lights were also set up and flashing everywhere. It was a good thing Molly lived on a large acre house in the country right outside the city. Max is Molly’s boyfriend and he’s an inspiring EDM DJ, she met him at a rave over the summer and it was love at first sight, plus it also worked out that he went to the all-boys sister school to her private school so she saw him a lot.

More time passed and Serena was having so much fun, she was also very drunk with Mina and Raye. Molly had to watch over her house and Amy decided she would help out with that. Serena was enjoying herself until she saw Seyia making out with another girl and when she turned to storm out of the crowd, to find Mina or Raye, she saw Andrew walking out of the house with some of his friends.

“Oh fucking shit!” Serena said as she ran into the kitchen to hide. She was thankful when she found Mina and Raye using the kitchen sink to wash something out of Raye’s hair. “Guys, big problem here!” Serena yelled and the two girls stopped what they were doing to look at their friend.

“What’s wrong Sere?” Raye said as she wrung her hair to try to squeeze out the water.

“Why is my fucking brother here? I thought he was gonna be with Rita? She didn’t even show up with him!” Serena drunkenly yelled as she pouted and stomped her foot. Mina was the drunk who thought everything was funny so she was sitting on the counter giggling while Raye just slapped her arm to shut her up.

“Sere, you’ll be fine. Just stay with us and drink some more.” Raye said as she poured her friend a glass of white wine.

“And Seyia’s here too,” she said sadly as she took the glass and took a big gulp of the wine.

“Why are you sad about that? I thought you liked him? Aren’t you two going on a date tomorrow, so why aren’t you with him now?” Mina questioned as she drank a glass of water then mixed herself a drink with a little bit of everything.

“He’s with some red head, sucking face.”

“Shit, give me that wine, you need this more than me.” Mina said as she handed Serena her drink mixed with everything. Serena took a gulp of it and made a face.

“What the fuck is this?!”

“It’s for broken hearts and girls who don’t know how to relax and have fun. Now drink up! We got some more dancing to do.” Raye said and Serena chugged the glass Mina gave her. Within about a minute the drink was gone and Serena could barely see straight, she was so drunk.


End file.
